Citing climate change, a federal judge on Thursday invalidated recent oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said the lease sale was invalid because an analysis by the Department of the Interior did not fully take into consideration how the leases will impact the climate. Contreras' decision cancels 1.7 million acres of leases, CNN reports.
During his first days in office, President Biden signed an executive order pausing new permits on oil and gas drilling. Thirteen states that rely heavily on the oil and gas industries filed a lawsuit, and after a judge blocked the Biden administration's order, a sale went through in November that netted almost $192 million.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Several environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, sued over the sale, saying it was conducted under flawed assumptions. Contreras agreed, finding that the Biden administration used outdated modeling from the Trump administration when it looked at the climate-warming impact of the lease sale, CNN reports. As part of the ruling, the Interior Department must fix its environmental analysis and greenhouse gas modeling.
The environmental organizations that sued are applauding the decision, with Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy saying in a statement that the world "simply cannot continue to make investments in the fossil fuel industry to the peril of our communities and increasingly warming planet." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute called the ruling "disappointing" and said the group is considering its legal options.
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Crossword: August 24, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Cloudbursts: what are the 'rain bombs' hitting India and Pakistan?The Explainer The sudden and intense weather event is almost impossible to forecast and often leads to deadly flash-flooding and landslides
-
What do heatwaves mean for Scandinavia?Under the Radar A record-breaking run of sweltering days and tropical nights is changing the way people – and animals – live in typically cool Nordic countries
-
Blue whales have gone silent and it's posing troubling questionsUnder the radar Warming oceans are the answer
-
Acid rain is back: the sequel nobody wantedUnder The Radar A 'forever chemical' in rainwater is reviving a largely forgotten environmental issue
-
Why is the world so divided over plastics?Today's Big Question UN negotiations on first global plastic treaty are at stake, as fossil fuel companies, petrostates and plastic industry work to resist a legal cap on production
-
Tuvalu is being lost to climate change. Other countries will likely follow.Under the Radar Sea level rise is putting islands underwater
-
Massive earthquake sends tsunami across PacificSpeed Read Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan and Hawaii were told to evacuate to higher ground
-
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue chief resignsSpeed Read Ken Pagurek has left the organization, citing 'chaos'
